1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant weight detecting device for detecting the weight of a seat occupant sitting on a vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to increase the occupant safety and amenity, it has been suggested to adjust settings of a seat assembly and various peripheral devices around the seat assembly in dependence on the weight of the seat occupant with an occupant weight detecting device. See the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications No. 11-11535 and No. 11-304575. Such weight detecting device has a load sensor provided in a seat rail to directly detect a total weight of the seat and the occupant.
It has, however, been found that the prior art occupant weight detecting device of the type referred to above is of a design including a load sensor for weighing the weight of the seat occupant directly and, therefore, depending on the non-linear characteristic of the load sensor, difficulty is encountered in measuring the difference in weight of the particular seat occupant with high sensitivity and also with high accuracy over a wide range of variation of the seat occupant weight.